Police believe Tanner died of heat exhaustion

While an autopsy has yet to be performed on the body of former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner, a sheriff’s deputy with the Imperial County Police Department is quoted in the Imperial Valley Press as saying that Tanner died of heat exhaustion.

Authorities suspect that Tanner died as a result of exposure to severe heat in the open desert. It is believed that temperatures near his location the day he was found had exceeded over 110 degrees. The report also states that Tanner’s body was discovered several miles from his campsite attired in a black t-shirt and pants and that his body was located just 15 miles outside the city of Palo Verde.

The former State high school wrestling champ was reported missing by friends over the weekend and his body was discovered Monday by a Marine pilot operating a helicopter near a campsite in the Clapp Springs area of the Palo Verde mountains.

Police accounts contradict several MMA media reports that quoted friends of Tanner as indicating that Tanner’s off-road bike ran out of gas. According to police officials, his bike still contained fuel.

While Tanner had not run out of fuel, he had run out of water. Police officials told the Press that water bottles that Tanner had carried with him were empty and that Tanner’s water supply at his campsite had been exhausted as well.

It’s depressing. Having camped in the desert, the one thing you bring enough of is water. When you start to run low, you bug out fast. I question his judgement of going out on a bike which limited the amount of supplies he could bring but I don’t think it was overtly intentional – just a sad tragedy.

I’m not 100% on this but I know you become delirious during heat exhaustion so I would imagine you wouldn’t feel a thing except for being cold before you passed out. From what has been reported it all seems very strange. If his bike had gas, why was he walking? Why would he be wearing black in the desert? I dunno, maybe the bike wasn’t running because of another reason.

15 miles away from the city , and gas still in the tank, something doesnt add up. i live in california about an hour and a half away from where he was found. it is not humid at all unless there is a thunderstorm. and it is a dumb idea to go camping in the desert in the summer. shit it is hot as hell in the mountains here in the summer. anyway whats done is done. tanner was a true warrior, win or lose, it was gonna be an exciting battle. rip tanner

so his bike didn’t run out of fuel? whoa..
that’s weird.. i must say..
because, it seems as though he could’ve just ridden out..
I’m sure his death was NOT intentional.. although the loss to Kendall may have been devistating and may have added problems to the ones already existent, his manager said he was in a good place in his head..

i watched a recent interview with Tanner last night..
and he was talking about how he used to surf, but since he moved to Vegas he couldn’t really do that any more.. He said since there was no ocean or beach, he -loved- riding his bike in the dessert..

you have no idea how weird/sad it was to watch that video..

i bet he had no idea that something he -loved- would be the death of him..

Evan read, thought about, planned and prepared, for this trip into the desert. You don’t get very far in preparations for desert hiking / excursions without reading ballpark figures of 1-2 gallons of water per person per day- over, and over and over. You read that after reading “it’s really fu@king hot !!”

BTW the headline is curious if it came from the police if only misinformation, because “heat exhaustion” doesn’t kill you… it leads up to ‘heat stroke’ that does.